Biggest offseason mistake

[rodell330]

I woulda been happy with Laron Landry. Safety was a huge need at the time.

 

[packnutt]

I'll let you know at the end of the season.

GO PACK!!!

 

[El Guapo]

At some point during the season everyone says "oh the Packers should have done such n such", it just makes more sense to go on record before the season and say it instead of week 12 when its obvious.

Actually, I don't ever sit around arm-chair quarterbacking the decisions already made. I don't do it for the Packers and I don't do it in real life. I do look at the current situation and think about what steps can be made next.

To me the negative side is sitting here trying to analyze and come up with the "biggest" mistake. It's like reality TV in a forum. "What will the number one mistake be? We'll tell you right after this commercial break!"

 

[wxman2003]

Signing Hargrove was a mistake. Based on his performance, or really lack of it, in the preseason, he will likely be jettisoned before the season even starts.

 

[Poppa San]

1) not convincing DD to retire
2) looks like Harrell isn't ready to be the backup QB.
3) Not moving Hawk on to someone else' roster.

I hope to be wrong on these.

 

[Trapped In Vikingville]

It's too early. We will have our injuries, but so will everyone else. Yes, Hawk has been under achieving but you just don't know when these mediocre players will light it up. Hawk has the talent, he just hasn't (as they say) "put the rubber to the road!" I have faith that TT & MM know more about the potential of these guys than I do. I can't wait until the Pack starts to put it all together. What about MJD in our backfield??

 

[JBlood]

TT did everything possible to improve the defense. Now it's up to the players. If we can avoid injuries we have a better chance than anyone in the NFC to get to the Championship.

 

[El Guapo]

That is the fallacy though. No team completely avoids injury and most suffer their share of season-ending injuries each season. I truly believe that the NFL is all about injuries and who has the best backups. That's why I actually love preseason football. It's not about wins and losses but watching to see which players will be stepping into starting roles once the injury roulette wheel takes its usual mid-season spin.

 

[TJV]

Signing Hargrove was a mistake. Based on his performance, or really lack of it, in the preseason, he will likely be jettisoned before the season even starts.

How could signing a veteran at a position of need at minimum salary with no guaranteed money be the biggest mistake of the offseason? Hargrove was signed for $825K which only counts $540K against the cap and like Benson's contract is reduced to $393K if he goes on IR. He can be waived at no cost to the Packers. If all of Thompson's "mistakes" were these kinds of signings he'd be perfect.

 

[Shawnsta3]

Not going after a veteran pass rusher.


Oh and not making B.J Coleman our starting quarterback. He's pretty darn' good.

 

[tynimiller]

I was on the "Cut Hawk" bandwagon but now with Bishop's injury TT possibly proves why we're all not in his position...he may have kept Hawk knowing we were only one injury away from losing our only two proven MLB's in Bishop or Hawk and we would only have one experienced LB in the middle. If we'd have cut Hawk, we'd be setting with two newbies. I'll take Hawk over a newbie, the man does his job in the middle and we'll see him play less and less if at all on passing downs anyways.

 

[mradtke66]

Signing Hargrove was a mistake. Based on his performance, or really lack of it, in the preseason, he will likely be jettisoned before the season even starts.

So that doesn't make sense. He's not 'producing' because he isn't getting snaps. They know he's suspended, so he doesn't get many snaps in practice and is basically last-string in the preseason.

Those snaps are precious, so those who can, you know, play in week 1 are getting them.

 

[AmishMafia]

Hard to call anything a mistake until we see how any of this season pans out. Judging football transactions is a bit like judging a US presidency, you should wait at least a few years but probably closer to twenty before making a claim of certainty.

Actually, I don't ever sit around arm-chair quarterbacking the decisions already made. I don't do it for the Packers and I don't do it in real life. I do look at the current situation and think about what steps can be made next.

To me the negative side is sitting here trying to analyze and come up with the "biggest" mistake. It's like reality TV in a forum. "What will the number one mistake be? We'll tell you right after this commercial break!"

Not sure if I understand what you are saying because these comments don't go together. Sounds like you are saying you would like to point out the mistakes a few years down the road rather than provide any thoughts or analysis at the time. You want to wait to be sure before you put any of your credibility on the line.

As far as my view? I don't see any big mistakes. I thought signing the DE who is a part of the whole Saints bounty gate was a mistake, but not a big one. I like almost every move TT made and am ambivalent on a few.

 

[CheeseHead87]

I might just be a TT fanboy, but I don't think that the Pack have made any terrible mistakes so far this offseason.

Although getting a veteran backup QB would give me a little more peace of mind.

 

[El Guapo]

Not sure if I understand what you are saying because these comments don't go together. Sounds like you are saying you would like to point out the mistakes a few years down the road rather than provide any thoughts or analysis at the time. You want to wait to be sure before you put any of your credibility on the line.

Sounds like you like to parse apart people's post to make yourself look smart. Okay, well if you read what you quoted me on, I said that "you should wait at least a few years" to second guess. I said that I won't do it. I fail to understand why you tried to make me look bad in the first place. If you're going to do something like that, you should at least make sure that you're doing it right.

 

[El Guapo]

I was on the "Cut Hawk" bandwagon but now with Bishop's injury TT possibly proves why we're all not in his position...he may have kept Hawk knowing we were only one injury away from losing our only two proven MLB's in Bishop or Hawk and we would only have one experienced LB in the middle. If we'd have cut Hawk, we'd be setting with two newbies. I'll take Hawk over a newbie, the man does his job in the middle and we'll see him play less and less if at all on passing downs anyways.

I couldn't agree more. Great assessment. TT is all about building through the draft. If he didn't feel that he had enough depth to cover both cutting Hawk and having an injury, he's not going to make a rash move.

 

[AmishMafia]

Sounds like you like to parse apart people's post to make yourself look smart. Okay, well if you read what you quoted me on, I said that "you should wait at least a few years" to second guess. I said that I won't do it. I fail to understand why you tried to make me look bad in the first place. If you're going to do something like that, you should at least make sure that you're doing it right.

wasn't looking to make you look bad. Just looking for understanding, an explanation. Didn't mean to give offense.


Just reread my post. You are correct, I didn't sound very polite.

 

[El Guapo]

No worries. I'm sure that I read too much into it. I guess that's what long days in a construction trailer and then sitting in a hotel room will do to a guy!

 

[ivo610]

tough to be gm when you look back at it

 

[PikeBadger]

tough to be gm when you look back at it

It sure is!

If only Ted had a crystal ball that would tell him exactly where and when the crippling injuries would occur.

 

[HardRightEdge]

1) not convincing DD to retire
2) looks like Harrell isn't ready to be the backup QB.
3) Not moving Hawk on to someone else' roster.

I hope to be wrong on these.

These calls from post #30, 8/21/12, look solid today.

 

[adambr2]

Generally if he has let a player walk, it's for good reason. Jenkins was regrettable, but you're not going to be able to keep everyone and occasionally you're going to miss one. I can understand that.

Where he drives me mad is his tendency to overrate his own players. It seems he would rather pay a premium price for an existing mediocre Packer than pay a bargain price for an outside player who might have slipped through the cracks in free agency.

There are times when it works out like with Lang and Jordy, but the contracts like Jones and Hawk, solid starter prices for below average players, harm us on two fronts. First, they obviously harm our salary cap. But they also keep a mediocre player on the field. You can't bench a guy like Hawk or Jones after you pay them good money. At least not right away. So they go on, continuing to hurt the team, while we continue not to address the position because we already have high paid starters playing inside.

It's no coincidence that our defense has struggled for years. It's partly because we continue to trot starters out there that we overrate. I'm not totally sure Brad Jones would crack another 53, but here he is was as our starter until very recently. MD Jennings is a street free agent, someone who no team out of 32 has interest in. Yet he started all 16 games for us last season and also had a significant role in 2012. Jerron McMillian was also expected to play a significant role last year -- out of football even sooner, unable to crack a 53 this year.

It's hard for me to pinpoint one move of an offseason when the entire planning process for roster construction seems to be suspect. We need to take a hard look at why we are so slow to recognize and correct obvious areas of talent deficiency. Entering last season with MD Jennings and Jerron McMillian expected to play significant roles at safety was poor planning, as was entering this season with the plan of Brad Jones and AJ Hawk once again being starting ILBs.

 

[Sanguine camper]

Drafting Thornton instead of of an ILB was a huge mistake. The fourth round pick is killing the Packers in that they could have used another guard and they have no depth on the o line.

 

[Sanguine camper]

That was a complete a** kicking last night. The Packers were physically whipped on the line of scrimmage. No amount is X's and O's is going to fix that. The Packers are a soft team with a great qb.

 

[rondon57]

Ok time to play arm chair GM,

What was the packers biggest mistake of the offseason and why? Try and be reasonable, saying "not signing Mario Williams" isn't realistic lol.

In my eyes I think the move that should have been made is signing Erin henderson. He was a free agent LBer from the Vikings. Not an expensive sign as he later resigned with the Vikings for a 1 year deal. He is a solid starter that could have helped out our depth.

Cutting AJ hawk is 2nd on my list lol. (I somewhat kid)

Not signing a ILB or drafting one in the 1st or 2nd round, Hawk has been a major dud for the fifth overall pick in the draft that year,TT has to eat crow on that pick!mistakes like that will bite you in the butt